Woody Harrelson says he and Cheers co-star Ted Danson, aka bartender Woody Boyd and bar owner Sam Malone, are looking forward to “rekindling our romance, I mean friendship, after all this time” on their new podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, which debuts on June 12.
While swapping stories about their days on the ’80s and ’90s hit, we hope the stars give us some gems like the ones we’ve unearthed about the comedy classic…
KIRSTIE & WOODY WERE TEMPTED BY AN AFFAIR
Her neurotic character Rebecca spent much of her time in the bar turning Sam down.
And the late Kirstie Alley admitted in her 2012 memoir The Art Of Men the same scenario played out off screen, but between her and Woody!
“He would incessantly insist we sleep together, half joking and half serious. ‘We’re not sleeping together,’ I would say, half wishing I wasn’t married so we could.”
LUCILLE BALL TURNED DOWN A ROLE
Producers tried to nab TV legend Lucille Ball to play Helen Chambers, Diane (Shelley Long)’s mother.
“[We] sat in the living room with Lucy and her second husband, Gary Morton,” says director James Burrows. “We pitched her on the idea and Lucy turned us down.”
She wasn’t interested in the role. It went to Brit Glynis Johns.
BRAD PITT AUDITIONED FOR THE SHOW
Cheers casting director Jeff Greenberg recalls he once welcomed a little-known actor named Brad Pitt in to try out for a guest role on Cheers.
“My only note was ‘Not funny,’” Jeff admits. “For the part, he wasn’t funny – he’s been funny since.” Way to back-pedal, Jeff…
THE BEER WAS WARM & FLAT!
Making TV isn’t always glam – all the beer at the Cheers bar was fake!
“It was non-alcoholic beer, and they wanted it to be draft,” recalled George Wendt, who played Norm Peterson of the drinks downed by the cast on-camera.
“So it was warm and flat, and the prop man put salt into it. So it was warm, flat, salty, non-alcoholic beer.”
Sounds, um, delish!
TED DANSON WAS ‘UNHAPPY’ ON SET
Guest star Emma Thompson, who appeared in a season 10 episode in 1992, once said, “I remember meeting Ted Danson, one of the nicest people in the world, and one of the most unhappy. I thought, ‘Why are you so unhappy?’ It was because he wanted to be able to do other things but this had defined him.”
THE CAST CONSTANTLY PRANKED EACH OTHER
The on-screen antics were nothing compared to the ones that went on off camera.
Kirstie revealed that John Ratzenberger, aka Cliff, carried “this little machine around that makes belching and farting noises”.
“Ted pulled my pants down in front of 100 extras,” Woody recalls of one incident.
But Ted says Woody got him back. “He took a Polaroid of me in the shower and put it on the yearly gag reel so 200 people saw it.”
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